Your licence expires 31 August: what it actually covers when you fall

At midnight on 31 August, something stops for every licensed rider in France, and almost nobody notices: the insurance protection attached to the licence. The contract terms published by the Fédération française d’équitation state it plainly under the heading “duration of licence cover”: “The guarantees take effect from the date of subscription, at the earliest on 1 September of each year and until 31 August of the following year.”

Whilst your licence is active, it covers you up to €30 million (32.9 million dollars) per claim. This sum is not for you: it is the ceiling for third-party liability, that is, damage you cause to others. The moment it is you who falls, the same contract becomes far more modest. Your medical bills are covered up to £4,200 (5,200 euros), and only after the National Health Service and your private insurance pay their share. The death benefit is £16,750 (21,000 euros) from age 18 onwards. For permanent disability, the reference capital ranges from £17,500 to £52,500 (22,000 to 66,000 euros) depending on severity, with nothing triggered below 6 per cent disability.

Nobody hides this disparity: it is written in two public documents that the federation publishes freely online. We have read them, line by line, for this feature. They contain two pitfalls that the FFE flags on its own website, and which people generally discover too late: a duplicate licence number, which erases your Galops qualifications, and a horse you own that is not covered by your licence the moment you stop riding it.

What stops at midnight on 31 August

The equestrian season does not follow the calendar year. It runs from 1 September to 31 August, and the Institut français du cheval et de l’équitation makes this explicit in its own definition of national statistics: the number of licensed riders means “the number of licensed riders holding a licence and riding during the season, between 01/09 and 31/08”.

The insurance contract follows this calendar precisely. The terms state it “takes effect from 1 September 2024, for a fixed term of 4 years, until 31/08/2028”, and “the anniversary date of this contract is fixed at 1 September of each year”. In other words, the switchover is not a routine club administration task: it is a contract expiry, the same for everyone, at the same moment.

Renewal does not happen online from home. The federation invariably directs you to your club: “To renew your riding licence, you must contact a club or association and provide them with your licence number.” The rest of your file, including qualifications, remains accessible through your FFE Club SIF personal account, and the full licence, entry and competition process is detailed in our FFE Compet guide.

Thirty million euros for others, four thousand two hundred for you

The 2026 licence guarantee sheet runs to one page and reads in two columns. On the left, third-party liability, with a ceiling of €30 million (32.9 million dollars) per claim for personal injury, material and immaterial damage combined, including €5 million (5.5 million dollars) for material and immaterial damage arising from the claim. The excess on material damage is £160 (200 euros), and legal protection and recovery are covered up to £40,000 (50,000 euros).

This column alone justifies holding a licence. A horse that escapes its rider and causes a road accident, a hoof that breaks the window of a neighbouring horsebox, a fall that triggers another on a course: these are the sums at stake.

On the right, the column covering your own body is of an entirely different order of magnitude. The death benefit is £8,400 (10,500 euros) between ages 12 and 17, and £16,750 (21,000 euros) at 18 and over. For insured riders under 12, this is funeral and burial costs capped at £8,000 (10,000 euros). Permanent disability pays nothing below 6 per cent; beyond that, compensation is calculated by multiplying the disability rate by a reference capital of £17,500 (22,000 euros) for 6 to 32 per cent, £35,000 (44,000 euros) for 33 to 65 per cent, £52,500 (66,000 euros) for 66 to 100 per cent. The document itself gives the example: 20 per cent disability gives £17,500 (22,000 euros) multiplied by 20 per cent, which is £3,500 (4,400 euros).

Everything else fits into a series of small ceilings you need to know before, not after, the accident: £4,200 (5,200 euros) in medical, pharmaceutical, surgical and hospital costs, after the NHS and private insurance pay their share; £415 (520 euros) for transporting the injured; £145 (180 euros) per tooth and £415 (520 euros) per accident for dental treatment; £720 (900 euros) for repatriation; £1,440 (1,800 euros) in search costs for a rider; £1,440 (1,800 euros) for teaching support from day thirty-one of incapacity.

These amounts can be increased, and the same sheet explains how: additional cover can be taken out alongside the licence, from £21 (26 euros) to raise the reference capital to £64,000 (80,000 euros) above 33 per cent disability, £38 (47.50 euros) to increase death and disability capital by half, £67 (83.50 euros) to double them. This is a decision to make once a year when you renew your licence, at the same time as the rest of your rider and horse cover.

What the contract calls a riding action

The question comes up every time someone falls whilst grooming: was I covered, since I was not in the saddle? The contract answers precisely. It defines a riding action as “riding an equine, extended to any personal act directly related to the animal”, and it lists: fetching it from the field or stable, looking after it, longeing it, grooming it, treating it, preparing it to ride, saddling and unsaddling it, putting it back in the field or stable, loading or unloading it from a lorry or horsebox.

The list therefore covers the bulk of time actually spent with a horse, which is not time spent in the saddle. It extends to participation in events organised by the federation or by an affiliated establishment, including competitions and treks, “cover then being valid for the entire duration of the event”, and the territory is worldwide, subject to particular provisions relating to the United States and Canada.

Insured activities are defined broadly: “any current or future equestrian discipline officially recognised by the FFE and practised within a club or privately, on a non-professional and/or non-profit basis”. The word that matters in that sentence is “non-professional”: the moment the activity becomes paid, it falls outside the scope of the licence.

The coverage gap for owners

This is the line that owners typically discover the day their horse leaves the field. Owner liability for equines, which the federation calls RCPE, is a paid extension, and its purpose is stated plainly in the terms: to cover damage to third parties “caused by the equine (or equines) of which the licence holder is the owner or unpaid keeper when the licence holder is not engaged in a riding action”.

In other words, the two cover options relay each other. Whilst you are handling or riding your horse, it is the licence. Once you shut the stable door and go home, it is the RCPE, or nothing. The terms remind us of this: these guarantees “are granted only as an extension to the taking out of a licence”. The cost is £30 (37 euros) per year for the first equine and £21 (26 euros) from the second, for ceilings of €10 million (11 million dollars) in personal injury and €5 million (5.5 million dollars) in material and immaterial damage arising from the claim. These levels will not change for several seasons: the terms state that “the amounts of cover and excesses remain fixed until 31 August 2028”.

Two points deserve reading before you lend your horse. The “animal loan” extension only applies privately and without payment, and for a maximum of 30 consecutive days. And excluded are “damage caused by an animal used or kept for professional purposes”. A horse handed over for payment therefore falls into a different category from a horse lent to a friend: this is exactly the kind of detail to check before signing, just like the rest of the half-livery trial check list.

Two hours of trial without a licence, it’s in the contract

The start of term is when people try things out. Good news for beginners and parents: the contract explicitly covers this case. Among the insured are “riders, drivers, vaulters, longeurs not holding a licence who are receiving an introduction or a two-hour trial of riding at an equestrian establishment affiliated to the FFE, before a possible licence or green licence”. Two hours, no more, and at an affiliated establishment.

Beyond that, there is a short-term option. The green licence is presented by the federation as a tool to “better meet the consumption habits of recreational sports riders”, “offered at the accessible price of £8 (10 euros) until 31 August with validity for 30 days”. It gives access to the same basic cover as a riding licence, since the insurance sheet covers “all holders of a riding licence or a green licence”.

The licence number pitfall at the start of term

Here is the passage from the federation website that every rider changing clubs should read before filling in their registration form. The basic rule first: “One licence = One number = One rider. It is unique and comprises 7 digits plus one letter.” To this number are attached your personal details, equestrian exams, Galops qualifications, competition results and insurance add-ons.

Then comes the warning, written as stated: “Any change of licence results in: loss of Galops, loss of competition results.” And the consequence, on the same page: “Without a Galop, you risk disqualification”, then “renewing a wrong licence can also result in lack of insurance cover”.

The scenario is commonplace. You change clubs in September, the new club cannot find your number, they create a new one, and your Galops remain attached to the old one. The federation confirms the problem exists and that it knows how to fix it: your club or an email to the licences department, a processing time of roughly 72 hours, a transfer of results for the current season if needed. But it also warns that “merging the two licences does not exist, one or the other will be annulled or blocked”.

The answer takes one sentence and costs thirty seconds: give your licence number to the club before they type anything. It appears on your licence from last year, bottom left of your qualifications issued after 2000, or at your old club. The same reflex applies to children, whose Pony Galops accumulate from year to year and from one structure to another.

The medical certificate no longer follows the same rules by age

The rule has changed and is no longer the same for a child and an adult. For a minor rider, the federation states that “submission of a medical certificate is no longer required, even for competition”: it is a self-assessment health form, accompanied by parental consent, that allows you to take out or renew a competition licence. If the answer to even one question is yes, a new medical certificate must be provided.

For an adult rider, a certificate of no contraindication to riding “including in competition” dated less than one year ago remains necessary to validate a competition licence. The rider can then renew by self-assessment for two consecutive seasons, then must see a doctor again for a new cycle. Two details cost people weeks every autumn: online submission does not count as immediate validation, and a certificate “incomplete, illegible or mentioning a particular discipline” does not permit validation of a federal competition licence. The procedure is detailed in our guide to submitting your medical certificate on the SIF account, and the levels required to compete at regional level are on our page about the Amateur CR.

What the start of term actually costs, on the federation side

The price list published by the federation, consulted on 23 August 2026, still shows the rates for the current season. The riding licence is listed by year of birth rather than age: £23 (29 euros) for a rider “born 2008 and after”, £32 (40 euros) for a rider “born 2007 and before”. To this are added, as needed, £1.50 (2 euros) for posting the licence to you and £6 (8 euros) for a replacement. The birth year threshold shifts by one year with each new season: it is the list your club provides at the start of term that governs.

The competition licence is an extension of the riding licence, and its price depends on the level you are aiming for: £0 (0 euros) at club level, £64 (80 euros) at amateur, £265 (330 euros) at professional. To this, for each entry, add the fixed federation fee: £2.65 (3.30 euros) for an individual internet entry at pony and club level, £3.85 (4.80 euros) at amateur and professional. One final figure illuminates club membership fees: a club’s affiliation to the federation costs £656 (820 euros) per year, and this cost precedes every lesson, every pony and every bag of feed.

A contradiction between two federation documents

One point cannot be settled, and it is better to state it than to gloss over it. The two public federation documents do not give the same deadline for reporting an accident.

The 2026 licence guarantee sheet states: “To avoid a refusal of cover, any accident must be reported to us within 15 days of your becoming aware of it.” The longer information notice, by contrast, requires the insured to “make their report within 5 working days from the moment they became aware of it and within 30 working days in case of death”.

Both cannot be correct at the same time. Note that the one-page sheet bears the statement “non-contractual document”, which gives priority to the notice, and that the notice adds that if deadlines are not met, “cover will not be provided, provided the delay has caused damage to the insurer”. The course of action is obvious: report immediately, without trying to work out which of the two deadlines applies. The same document also reminds us that any action arising from an insurance contract is subject to a two-year limitation period from the event.

Sources cited in the text, all consulted on 23 August 2026: “FFE Tariffs” page on the Fédération française d’équitation website; federal frequently asked questions on licence and green licence; “How to take out a FFE licence” page; “Information on licence insurance cover” sheet for the 2026 licence; information notice for third-party liability, individual accident and owner liability contracts for equines held by licence holders; definition of “licensed riders” statistics published by the Institut français du cheval et de l’équitation.